I have been thinking about this verse in this picture a lot lately. John 15:15 says, "I don't call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn't know what his master is doing. But I've called you friends because I've made known to you everything that I've heard from my Father." Wow, what a powerful statement for Jesus to make to his disciples! I wonder what the disciples thought when He spoke this to them? They had walked with Jesus for some time and it isn't any wonder that at some point something shifted in their relationship with Him, they loved Him. They had initially followed him out of wonder, understandably. Eventually, when Jesus asked them who they thought He was, Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus said Peter was blessed because God had revealed this to him! (Matthew 16:16-17) The Bible says that because God loved the world He sent Jesus to save whoever believed in Him. To love Jesus, we have to love God, and in order to love God, we have to receive the love of God into our hearts. We can't love God without God. John 15:9 says, "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love." Jesus loved us because God loved us! This is the greatest triangle of love that has ever existed!
Look at what Jesus said...."no greater love has anyone than this, than to lay one's life down for his friends"! That kind of love only exists through God. That's why in order to have the kind of love needed to reach a lost and dying world, we have to abide in Christ.
Have you ever heard of those amazing stories about people being able to lift a car off another person? Or how someone jumped in front of a speeding bullet for someone else? Some of these seem like things we would only see in the movies, but actually they do happen in real life. It's interesting how if you were to test a person's strength, normally, lifting a car isn't one of them. Dodging bullets would make more sense than jumping in front of one... Something happens when the lives of those we love are put into jeopardy. We don't turn into Superman, but there is something even greater than comes alive within us. It's love. "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." Jesus did this for us. The night Jesus was praying in the garden, he was sweating blood and asked that if it was God's will, that He take this cup from Him. In other words, if there was any other way to save His friends....make it known. But, there wasn't. So, on the day Jesus was betrayed, he began a brutal journey towards saving the lost....His friends. The same friends who kept falling asleep when He needed them to pray, the same friend who would deny he knew Him 3 times...
This same kind of love, Jesus said we should have for one another. Is there a situation today that you know someone who needs to feel loved? Sometimes, it's just as easy as a phone call. But, who knows where the love of God will lead us in the days to come.
